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Court Refuses To Block Calif. Shark Fin Soup Ban

An Indonesian fisherman cuts the fin of a shark in Lampulo fish market in Banda Aceh in Aceh province on March 7, 2013. Humans kill about 100 million sharks each year, mostly for their fins, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and conservationists are warning that dozens of species are under threat. (credit: Chaideer Mahyuddin /AFP/Getty Images)

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court refused to block California’s ban on the sale of shark fin soup.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday unanimously refused to ban the sale of the soup while San Francisco-area Chinese restaurants and their suppliers pursue their lawsuit to overturn the state law. The suit to overturn the law and reinstate the sale of the soup is also supported by the Obama administration. The law took effect last month.

The Chinese restaurants wanted sales to continue until a trial court decided the lawsuit.

But the appeals court said that the restaurants failed to show they would suffer “irreparable harm” if the ban went into effect while the lawsuit was pending.

A state law that passed in 2011 and took effect last month bans the selling or serving of shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese delicacy. It was sponsored by conservation and animal-protection groups whose stated goals are to stop the cutting of fins from live sharks — a practice already banned in federal waters — and to protect consumers from mercury in the fins.

Environmentalists argue 73 million sharks are killed annually around the world for their fins.

The restaurants allege banning the Chinese delicacy is discriminatory.

The court said that it’s unlikely the lawsuit would prevail, but noted the legal action was still alive and that the restaurateurs and Obama administration could continue fighting the ban in a lower court.